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10.31.2013

Case and point: every Halloween, or in this instance, Hallows Eve-weekend, Nanette and her family host something of a murder mystery dinner. Each guest is assigned a character in a plot involving twisting story lines, and each person is expected to dress and act as their character throughout the evening. As the night goes on, someone is mysteriously murdered, and it's up to the guests to uncover whodunnit.

Along with the underlying murder-mystery, there are twisting subplots that occur between characters. This particular evening, the time and place was a Paris Townhouse in 1908 after the plundering of Egyptian tombs and the recovery of a mysterious and priceless artifact. I was slated to come as Miss Rose Isabella Chapman, eccentric London socialite and sister to T.E. Lawrence. My character, like her brother, had been living with a Bedouin tribe for a year, and arrived as a dinner guest in the hopes of seeing her brother, but unfortunately, T.E. Lawrence was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, our host had been mysteriously poisoned, and the precious artifact had been stolen by one of the guests.

In the end, T.E. Lawrence scared the bejezus out of everyone and jumped out of a parlor closet, having been drugged and mummified. He revealed the criminal amongst us, and everyone proceeded to drink copious amounts of whiskey while dancing about to music from Fellini films. While everything was going on, I was handed a Polaroid camera and was asked to document the guests. The end results are some of the photos you see here.

Many thanks to Nanette Lepore and her family for graciously hosting me. It's been a Halloween I'll never forget!